Friday 21st August - Mullumbimby to Vancouver

We arrived in Vancouver at about 5pm, 29 hours after leaving home in Mullumbimby. We were on the road at 4:30 am and had a good run to Brisbane airport. Met friends Michael & Rebecca at the airport on their return trip from Darwin. Had breakfast with them, then they dropped us off at International Terminal and drove our car home - was a very convenient arrangement.

 After booking in and getting through customs it was "sit and wait". This arriving 3 hours before an international flight does give you time to wind down. Picked up a small amount of US and Canadian dollars at the airport so that we would have something to eat with at Los Angeles and a taxi fare to the hotel in Vancouver. For cash access this trip we are using ANZ Visa Travel Cards. Have put US and Canadian dollars on these cards and will be able to access the funds through any ATM. That's the theory at least.

The flight to Los Angeles was with Vaustralia. We were very happy with the service, meals and excellent multimedia choices. Plenty to keep one entertained for the trip. We weren't as impressed with the legroom which I guess is the reality with most airlines these days. Did manage to get a little bit of sleep. We arrived in LA at 7am (4 hours before we left Brisbane thanks to our crossing of the international date line). Customs was straight forward - the usual taking of fingerprints and photographs but the officers seemed less officious then on our previous US trip. Waiting 6 hours for our connection flight to Vancouver was painful. LA airport has to be one of the least exciting in the world and our meal was pretty mediocre.

The flight to Vancouver with Alaska Airlines was 3 hours and you could see snow-topped mountains along the way. There appeared to be more legroom on this flight than the Vaustralia flight. Landed at Vancouver airport about 4pm. Our expected $30 taxi fare was more like $35 (plus $5 tip) thanks to it being peak hour. Peak hour here is not as bad as in Sydney however.

We are in our unit on the 22nd floor at BC - The Canadian for a week so we will have plenty of time to see the sights of Vancouver before heading west on the 'Rocky Mountaineer'. The unit is well appointed (kitchen/washing machine) so we went food shopping at a nearby IGA. Very difficult to buy small sizes of yoghurt, milk etc. Everything is in large containers. Cooked some gluten-free pasta for dinner and are off to be bed about 9:30pm. Jill's been there for a while!